punishment after their brother ran off with a
married woman.
An unelected all-male village council in India also
ordered that 23-year-old Meenakshi Kumari and
her 15-year-old sister are paraded naked with blackened faces.
The horrific order was revealed by Amnesty
International which said the sisters and their
family have fled their village in the Baghpat
district, just outside of Delhi. According to news site Zee Media, the sisters’
brother Ravi fell in love with a girl from the Jat
caste, a higher social caste than Ravi and his
family, who are Dalit, once known as the
‘untouchables’, who are at the bottom of India’s
caste system. The Jat woman’s family married her off to
someone else in February but she later escaped
and eloped with Ravi in March. As punishment, on July 31 a village council
decided Ravi’s sisters should be raped to avenge
his actions. Since the family fled their village their home has
been ransacked. Sumit Kumar, another brother of Meenakshi, told
Amnesty that members of the Jat caste were
powerful members of the village council, saying:
“The Jat decision is final.” His family fears for their lives if they return.
Meenakshi has filed a petition with India’s
Supreme Court asking for protection. Meanwhile her father has also lodged a complaint
with two national bodies saying he has been
harassed by the family of the Jat woman and by
police. They are also worried about the safety of the Jat
woman, who is believed to be pregnant with
Ravi’s child.
Amnesty International has launched a petition
calling on India’s authorities intervene
immediately and protect the two sisters. In an appeal, Amnesty said: “Unelected village
councils such as this are widespread in parts of
India. “More often than not they are made up of older
men from dominant castes, who prescribe rules
for social behaviour and interaction in villages. “Nothing could justify this abhorrent
punishment. It’s not fair. It’s not right. And it’s
against the law.”
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